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What about storing your hunting clothes in a bag with some pine or cedar boughs?
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Aug 21, 2020 11:23
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wesleywillis posted:What about storing your hunting clothes in a bag with some pine or cedar boughs? For me cover scents are the equivalent of spraying on axe body spray after sweating at the gym instead of showering. I will just say as a general warning to everyone, I’m not sure any aspect of hunting gear or knowledge has more snake oil than scent control products. I can tell someone that spending money on better optics or a better backpack will improve their experience but I don’t think the same can be said for scent control stuff on the whole. Opinions on scent control vary wildly if you ask eastern whitetail guys or backpack hunters that don’t change clothes for a week. If you ever listen to Wired to Hunt podcasts you will hear some insane scent control strategies by really successful hunters. Guys will go so far as to have a hunting clothes only washer and dryer, store all their clothes in activated carbon, use only in scented shampoo for all or archery deer season, etc... Western hunters tend to wholly dismiss scent control stuff because it’s completely impractical even if it did work. Having done a lot of both types I would say situationally both are generally correct to some degree. I do think washing your gear regular with unscented soaps and wearing rubber boots can definitely help lessen your scent and result in a shorter scent dispersion pattern when practical. To me that requires having daily access to a shower, washer and dryer and walking short distances to preexisting stands. If you are sleeping in the bed of your truck and carrying a treestand 1 mile back in daily there is no stopping sweating a ton. Regardless of scent control anyone deer hunting should have a wind indicator of some sort whether it’s a powder bottle, milkweed or a feather and use it often. I do think it’s noteworthy that none of the 3 best hunting clothes companies use scent blocker technologies besides the properties of Merino wool or Polygene on synthetics. While all of those are western hunting companies both Sitka and First Lite have full dedicated whitetail clothing lines without scent control. There have also been quite a few false advertising lawsuits with varying outcomes around scent control products so consider it all with caution.
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Aug 21, 2020 14:54
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WRT scent control at least from my limited east coast hunting experience: My strategy is always been to clean my base layers every few (3 or so) hunts if I have been hunting cold weather or more frequently if it’s been warmer. I only really wash my outer garments after killing an animal or if I notice a smell/get a lot of mud on the bibs/pants. I do, however, take a hot shower with no scent soap and dry completely before every outing if it’s possible. I also use no scent antiperspirant. At the beginning and end of every season I also wash everything and store everything in plastic storage bins. With a majority of my hunting being archery I get to see deer up close and I rarely see them raise their noses and stop in their tracks. Usually I’m impatient from sitting in the tree all day, I shift my weight around and they see me and that’s what gets their hackles up.
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Aug 21, 2020 15:22
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I mostly tree stand hunt white tail in the northeast as well, and so far I've been fine with pretty rudimentary scent control. I shower with unscented products, apply unscented deodorant, and wash my hunting clothes with unscented detergents. After the season ends, I store them in plastic bins that are advertised as airtight. I routinely have deer approaching within 30 yards or so of my stand, sometimes much closer.
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Aug 21, 2020 15:34
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It probably is a very, very good idea to store your clothes in some kind of sealed bag though. Random, crazy stuff happens all the time. Like sewer gas backing up into the building you store your clothes in and you not noticing for a week or two since that building rarely gets used during the off season. Its going to take a lot of air drying to get that smell out, and even then wondering if its still there will bug me all season.
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Aug 21, 2020 16:03
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took a break from doing treestand work over the weekend with my brother to shoot our bows. we had just started shooting out to 70 yds and he said something felt weird when he drew back, so he drew down and and as he was letting down, his cable snapped. he's got an archery elk hunt in NM in like 3 weeks so while he's pretty stressed over getting his string replaced in time for that, he's super lucky it happened then and not once we're out in the middle of nowhere.
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Aug 31, 2020 17:16
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Whether pronghorn can or do jump fences is an often debated topic with the commonly held opinion being that they can, but don't like to. I watched 3 different pronghorn (2 bucks and a doe) do it while driving to/from MT and managed to get one of them on camera:
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Aug 31, 2020 17:39
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Hopping like a jackalope!
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Aug 31, 2020 18:16
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charliebravo77 posted:Whether pronghorn can or do jump fences is an often debated topic with the commonly held opinion being that they can, but don't like to. I watched 3 different pronghorn (2 bucks and a doe) do it while driving to/from MT and managed to get one of them on camera: I watched an entire herd, about 20-30 animals, run up to a fence and hop over it here in New Mexico. My brother and I had stalked up about 20 yards from them before they finally noticed us and took off. Seriously cool animals.
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Sep 2, 2020 22:48
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Pham Nuwen posted:I watched an entire herd, about 20-30 animals, run up to a fence and hop over it here in New Mexico. My brother and I had stalked up about 20 yards from them before they finally noticed us and took off. Seriously cool animals. They're the most uniquely American animal out there. They're also pretty tolerant of people getting close since they are the fastest land animal on the continent since the American cheetah is extinct. Generally speaking you can often stalk well within rifle distance without spooking them since they know they can outrun everything on the landscape. They're one of my favorite animals to watch and hunt and the meat is way better than lots of people claim.
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Sep 2, 2020 23:02
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charliebravo77 posted:They're the most uniquely American animal out there. They're also pretty tolerant of people getting close since they are the fastest land animal on the continent since the American cheetah is extinct. Generally speaking you can often stalk well within rifle distance without spooking them since they know they can outrun everything on the landscape. They're one of my favorite animals to watch and hunt and the meat is way better than lots of people claim. It was an incredible experience just sneaking up on them like that, and had I known I'd still be in NM this fall (thanks COVID) I'd have put in for a tag and gone to the exact same spot.
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Sep 2, 2020 23:14
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charliebravo77 posted:They're the most uniquely American animal out there. What about the America bird? 
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Sep 3, 2020 11:35
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wesleywillis posted:What about the America bird? The turkey is pretty awesome.
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Sep 3, 2020 11:35
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My mother-in-law made seekh kebabs out of a package of my ground elk yesterday and they were fantastic. Of course she doesn't use a recipe, but I bet any recipe for lamb seekh kebabs would work. We just baked them in the oven at about 360 degrees because we were afraid they'd fall apart on the grill.
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Sep 3, 2020 14:51
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Pham Nuwen posted:My mother-in-law made seekh kebabs out of a package of my ground elk yesterday and they were fantastic. Of course she doesn't use a recipe, but I bet any recipe for lamb seekh kebabs would work. We just baked them in the oven at about 360 degrees because we were afraid they'd fall apart on the grill. I've made a number of different Lebanese/Syrian recipes calling for ground lamb with ground venison instead, and they've all come out really well (kibbe and stuffed peppers being the best two so far.)
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Sep 3, 2020 15:45
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Oh man we've made the best stuffed peppers with venison. I'd love to try kibbe.
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Sep 3, 2020 16:23
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armorer posted:I've made a number of different Lebanese/Syrian recipes calling for ground lamb with ground venison instead, and they've all come out really well (kibbe and stuffed peppers being the best two so far.) Imagining kibbeh nayyeh made from venison or elk straight from the field... I'd give it a shot, if I was hunting somewhere cold. I'm looking at the few elk roasts I still have in the freezer and contemplating elk biryani or pilav. I don't have the heart to use loin meat in a recipe where it'll end up cooked through, though.
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Sep 3, 2020 16:28
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I've made raw kibbe a number of times, but not from venison. This was some of the last batch I made, using the recipe from the Zahav cookbook. I have a few different recipes for it that mostly just differ on how much of any given spice they add. I used Bob's Mill red bulgur because it was all I could find, but it's a bit too coarse for my tastes. I mean, it works and tastes fine, I just prefer a finer bulgur. 
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Sep 3, 2020 17:30
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Ophidian posted:The turkey is pretty awesome. I meant the Eagle, but yeah.
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Sep 3, 2020 21:45
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Taking my permit here in Denmark in 2021. Pretty stoked abt it! What is needed to gain a permit in your countries?
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Sep 19, 2020 11:27
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Tias posted:Taking my permit here in Denmark in 2021. Pretty stoked abt it! It varies state by state in the US but we have to take a hunter safety class that’s roughly a 1.5 day class with a test and a field day taught at a 5th grade level (at best). Most states age exempt people from hunter safety somewhere between 40-60 years old or for military service. Once you have it in one state you are good to go in all 50 states. The only exception is for archery hunting some states now require a separate bow hunter safety class. Hunter safety in the US teaches gently caress all about hunting and is mostly about not shooting your buddy crossing a fence with a loaded gun. Lots of states are reworking their programs right now to focus on teaching people how to actually learn to hunt. Our current hunter safety basically assumed your dad would teach you how to hunt and you lived in a rural area. Actually getting a license to hunt is quite variable and is controlled at the state level. Some places you go buy a license at a gas station or Walmart the night before the season that is good statewide whereas others you apply in a lottery 8 months before the season for a chance to draw a tag from a limited number of spots in a specific geographic area.
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Sep 19, 2020 13:59
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That is.. worrying. In Denmark you take extensive firearm safety (hunting permit being one of the only legal ways to bear arms, it is safe to assume most of us who take the tests haven't used a gun before), courses in hunting laws and also game and bird recognition - as well as instruction in how to hunt so as to maintain population welfare and obey the hunting season restrictions.
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Sep 19, 2020 14:58
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In Manitoba you get your hunters safety just like the states, then ya for waterfowl and upper game bird you just get it at Cabelas or Canadian Tire. If I get a deer tag this year I hear it's the same. For moose elk and caribou it's a bit weird. There's a season where general licenses apply with a bag limit and there's a season for license holders who've entered the draw system. You're limited in where you can hunt in the province based on your license and certain areas are opened and closed as the wildlife management authorities dictate, in order to maintain a healthy population. Good thing I have no desire to deal with having to field dress and pack out an animal bigger than a small car so I don't have to figure out all the details. Question for waterfowl hunters. I only own one suitable shotgun at the moment and my wife and I are both doing more hunting. When we can't borrow a second shotgun I'm using a borrowed one with a stupidly short barrel, 12". I know I have to shoot extremely close in order to get a tight enough pattern to not just piss off or injure a bird, but any idea on just how close? I've only been out with it once and the few opportunities I've had that I would have definitely fired with my long barrel I held fire because it wasn't a close enough pass for it to feel right. I'm already keeping an eye out for another gun.
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Sep 19, 2020 15:11
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Tias posted:That is.. worrying. In Denmark you take extensive firearm safety (hunting permit being one of the only legal ways to bear arms, it is safe to assume most of us who take the tests haven't used a gun before), courses in hunting laws and also game and bird recognition - as well as instruction in how to hunt so as to maintain population welfare and obey the hunting season restrictions. It’s just very American. From a safety perspective it does work, it’s way more dangerous driving to go hunt than the actual hunting part. As far as serious injuries falling out of treestands and hypothermia much more likely to hurt/kill hunters than gunshots. There are a lot of very knowledgeable hunters in the US with regard to everything you are tested on but the knowledge transfer is much more tribal.
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Sep 19, 2020 15:42
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EvilJoven posted:Question for waterfowl hunters. I only own one suitable shotgun at the moment and my wife and I are both doing more hunting. When we can't borrow a second shotgun I'm using a borrowed one with a stupidly short barrel, 12". I know I have to shoot extremely close in order to get a tight enough pattern to not just piss off or injure a bird, but any idea on just how close? I've only been out with it once and the few opportunities I've had that I would have definitely fired with my long barrel I held fire because it wasn't a close enough pass for it to feel right. Barrel length isn’t ballistically the issue as much as the choke. The barrel length is a problem for ergonomics but has somewhat less effect than the constriction of the choke. Waterfowl is typically hunted with a modified choke, often a bit tighter for geese or pass shooting ducks. In those cases you are talking about holding a 30” pattern from 30-40 yards. I’m betting a 12” barreled, likely cylinder bore, shotgun will only hold that 30” pattern to 15-20 yards. One option would be to get Federal flight control wad ammo like Black Cloud as those patterns are more independent of loose choking. You should go pattern the gun if you really want to know. That said you should go get the correct tool for the job which is a 28” barrel with interchangeable chokes.
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Sep 19, 2020 15:50
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That's what my primary semi is and what I'm intending to buy. Unfortunately the middle of duck season isn't the best time to be looking for a new 12ga. This is just a stopgap until a good deal comes along.
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Sep 19, 2020 18:03
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Flatland Crusoe posted:It’s just very American. To build on this, most states partner with the national nonprofits involved in species conservation to educate hunters. The National Wild Turkey Foundation, Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever all want to get more people engaged with their respective game animals, and Minnesota has an optional state run online class for deer. The book of rules from the Department of Natural Resources is there in a box wherever you buy a tag. I went to a hardware store for my tags and they had a big stack of DNR booklets. https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/gohunting/learn-hunt-opportunities.html I’m also spacing on which goon is involved with a local chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers which is an advocacy and education organization in the US and Canada.
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Sep 19, 2020 20:17
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Hell, in Virginia (and probably lots of other states) if you're a resident landowner you can hunt your own property without any safety training or license at all.
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Sep 19, 2020 21:24
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crazypeltast52 posted:I’m also spacing on which goon is involved with a local chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers which is an advocacy and education organization in the US and Canada.
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Sep 19, 2020 21:46
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charliebravo77 posted:I'm involved in BHA as well as IL's Learn to Hunt program as a mentor. As I mentioned in the OP, R3 is a big concern for conservation orgs and state agencies right now. Well the squirrel hunting talk in the TFR thread has made a future squirrel hunter out of me. I think I'll get a small game license and bring my .22 next weekend when I'm chasing deer with my bow. Having a cooler full of ice should keep the squirrels until I get home and turn them into stew. It might be just having my .22 on my shoulder when I'm doing mid-day trail work if I can't carry that and my bow at the same time, but I should be able to take home a few squirrels if they are as active as they were last weekend.
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Sep 21, 2020 07:32
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crazypeltast52 posted:Well the squirrel hunting talk in the TFR thread has made a future squirrel hunter out of me. I think I'll get a small game license and bring my .22 next weekend when I'm chasing deer with my bow. Having a cooler full of ice should keep the squirrels until I get home and turn them into stew. Checking my DNR regs, I can have my squirrel gun with me while I'm bowhunting deer so I'm all set there once I pick up a license.
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Sep 21, 2020 07:39
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I shot a squirrel today at the nearest state hunting area. Pretty Fox Squirrel, if I'm not mistaken. She was the first non-fish game I've taken since I was a kid. Her tail is in the freezer until I decide how to handle it; I hope to use it for tying flies. I hope to do a better job at saving more of the fur, next time.  She's stewing right now, and smells delightful.  I've gotta plan out how to cook the next ones, and plan how to preserve the furs. This one took a 12ga #6 and a 20 foot fall, then another shell to kill. I was also not great at cleaning so that also worked against me. I also will wait to clean the squirrel until I get home next time unless it's gut shot. I spent as much time picking dirt and leave bits off it as I did skinning.
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Sep 22, 2020 01:35
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I would love to try squirrel ragout one day, that looks amazing
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Sep 22, 2020 08:19
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Tias posted:I would love to try squirrel ragout one day, that looks amazing I kind of almost followed this recipe https://hispanickitchen.com/2012/02/24/modelo-beef-stew/, and it turned out great. I should have used a touch more stock, and I should have shredded the meat then added it back in. Many lessons learned yesterday, every step of the process. Another kind goon linked me this Jamaican jerk recipe, which may be my next undertaking. https://www.realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/jamaican-jerk-squirrel-recipe
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Sep 23, 2020 00:27
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Gooch181 posted:I shot a squirrel today at the nearest state hunting area. Pretty Fox Squirrel, if I'm not mistaken. She was the first non-fish game I've taken since I was a kid. That's what this thread is about. Nice work.
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Sep 23, 2020 15:55
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So turns out Denmark only has black and red squirrels, and both are protected species by law. Ah, welp - biologists in the state nature dept is pretty worried the gray one will show up and wreck poo poo in the future, so one day I will probably have my ragout 
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Sep 23, 2020 16:12
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Thank you! I'm dying to get back out there but want to be better prepared for skinning and making that jerk season recipe. I also need to check my shotgun patterns with #6 shot, and confirm zero on my .22's.
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Sep 23, 2020 16:21
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Did anyone else get a decent primer on wilderness survival in their hunter safety course? I took mine in Colorado and they spent a good portion of the classroom instruction going over what gear you needed to bring into the mountains and what to do if you got stuck and have to wait for rescue. All common sense stuff like don’t try and hike out if you’re lost or in bad weather and always tell someone where you’re going and when you’ll be back. But I’m guessing if you took the course in Iowa they spend little if any time going over wilderness stuff because you’re never more than a couple miles from a road or a farmhouse virtually anywhere in the state.
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Sep 24, 2020 09:09
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fat bossy gerbil posted:Did anyone else get a decent primer on wilderness survival in their hunter safety course? I took mine in Colorado and they spent a good portion of the classroom instruction going over what gear you needed to bring into the mountains and what to do if you got stuck and have to wait for rescue. All common sense stuff like don’t try and hike out if you’re lost or in bad weather and always tell someone where you’re going and when you’ll be back. But I’m guessing if you took the course in Iowa they spend little if any time going over wilderness stuff because you’re never more than a couple miles from a road or a farmhouse virtually anywhere in the state. Never got that here in NY that I can remember, but that’s not a surprise given the style of hunting here. I think it mostly focused on tree stand safety and how to not blow somebody’s head off while you’re climbing over a fence.
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Sep 24, 2020 17:40
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Long post warning: Just got back from my first elk hunt and it was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. One of my brothers drew an archery elk tag for NM unit 50, so three of us piled into a truck and drove straight thru. Got there the day before the second season opener right at first light, so we got out, threw on our camo, and went out glassing and got onto a herd within the first hour. We spent the rest of day one checking out the different water sources around, and every single one was bone dry, so it pretty much confirmed our plan to focus our hunt around the banks of the rio grande. For the first couple days we were more conservative after not seeing any other hunters, but as the days went by, more guys started showing up to glass as they realized this was the only water in the area. We did a lot of glassing and a lot of hiking, but every time we tried making a move on the herd, either the wind would swirl and completely switch on us, or we would lose the herd in the super broken terrain. Finally on day 4 we spotted them feeding along a large “meadow” of sage brush within striking range, and my brother was able stalk in and cut them off. He got picked off by a cow as the herd passed him so he pulled a nice 45 yd shot on a cow. Little did he know the herd bull was right behind her  She only went about 50 yards or so before going down. Then we had a nice 3 mile hike up some steep terrain with meat on our backs, but it was well worth it. I think in total that day i did 11 miles of hiking. Even though we didn’t get a mature bull, coming out of probably the toughest unit in NM with anything in the cooler on our first DIY archery hunt was super satisfying after putting in so much work just for an opportunity.
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Sep 24, 2020 18:26
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